Thursday, December 24, 2009

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Cyclone Laurence making landfall on December 21 at 05:59 UTC (1:59 p.m. local Australia Time). Laurence was a Category 3 storm, and this image clearly shows an eye.Tropical cyclone Laurence made landfall early on December 21, and residents along the northern coast of Western Australia are experiencing strong gusty winds, flooding, and very heavy rainfall. Laurence made landfall near Wallal as a Category Three hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Scale, with winds of 126 mph/ 203.7 kph/110 knots, gusting to 178 mph/287 kph/155 knots.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Cyclone Mick's center of circulation is exposed today, December 15. That's bad news for any cyclone as wind shear and dry air can work their way into the center of a storm and basically destroy it from the inside-out.

At 10 a.m. ET on December 15, Mick's sustained winds were around tropical depression force, 35 mph. It was located about 185 nautical miles east-southeast of Suva, Fiji, near 20.2 South and 177.4 West. Mick was moving east-southeast near 9 mph.

Strong vertical wind shear has helped expose Mick's low-level circulation center and the strong convection and thunderstorms are almost gone. As Mick continues to fade, its remnants will move southeastward. It is expected to dissipate by the end of the day.

Tropical Storm Laurence tracked through Darwin Australia this weekend before sliding back into the Timor Sea and now Laurence is forecast to make a second landfall in Australia. Laurence is forecast to make landfall north of Wyndham then parallel the coastline while moving over land for the next couple of days.

Laurence is forecast to make landfall in the Kimberley region, move southwest through the northern area of the Great Sandy Desert and into the Pilbara region.

Tropical cyclones such as 05B in 3-D. An intense thunderstorm near the center of 05B is shown by TRMM's PR to extend to heights above 13 km (~8 miles)

05B was producing heavy rainfall over areas of the southwestern Bay of Bengal and eastern Sri Lanka when the TRMM satellite passed over on December 14, 2009 at 0509 UTC

Tropical Depression 05B is dissipating on the east coast of Sri Lanka today and over the next couple of days, but not before bringing some moderate and heavy rain over the next couple of days to some areas in Sri Lanka and the southeast coast of India, from Chennai, southward.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Tropical Storm 05B on Dec. 10. 05B is the rounded area located to the southeast of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The area of purple in the middle of the storm indicates strong thunderstorms and high, cold thunderstorm cloud tops.

TRMM flew over Cleo on Dec. 10 at 20:23 UTC. There was one small area of heavy rainfall, in its northwestern side (in red) of about 2 inches per hour.

Rainfall in the once-known Cyclone Cleo has really diminished over the last 24 hours, and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite has confirmed it. Cleo is fading and the Joint Typhoon Warning Center has acknowledged its demise, in its final warning on the storm today.

At 4 a.m. ET today, December 11, Cleo's maximum sustained winds were down to 40 mph, and waning fast. That make Cleo a weak tropical storm at the moment, but it is expected to dissipate in the next day or two, because of hostile atmospheric conditions (wind shear). Cleo's center was located about 480 miles southwest of Diego Garcia, near 13.9 degree South latitude and 67.7 East longitude.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Cleo has run into wind shear and it has weakened it from a cyclone to a tropical storm. Cleo's maximum sustained winds are now down to 69 mph, and expected to continue falling. NASA's TRMM satellite noticed that an opening in the storm's circulation is one of the reasons Cleo has weakened quickly.

On December 10 at 09:00 UTC (4 a.m. ET) Tropical Storm Cleo) was located approximately 380 nm south-southwest of the island of Diego Garcia, near 13.5 degrees South latitude and 70.3 East longitude. Cleo was moving west-southwestward at 7 mph.

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Friday, December 04, 2009

TRMM's analysis of rainfall within System 97W on Dec. 3 showed a very limited area of moderate rainfall. The yellow and green areas indicate rainfall between .78 to 1.57 inches per hour.

System 97W's open center is near 17.3 North latitude and 141.0 East longitude, about 310 nautical miles northwest of Guam. Satellite data shows that the deepest convection (strongest thunderstorm activity) is to the north and northwest of the center, pushed there from wind shear.

Thursday, December 03, 2009

System 97W is getting organized. Earlier today, December 3, System 97W's center was located about 110 nautical miles west of Guam, near 13.6 North latitude and 142.9 East longitude. Currently, its maximum sustained winds are around 28 mph, and it is moving away from Guam in a west-northwesterly direction near 10 mph.

On December 3 at 0300 UTC, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center issued its final advisory on Tropical Depression Nida. Nida had maximum sustained winds down to 28 mph (25 knots), and was still crawling along at 4 mph to the northwest. It was located about 450 miles southeast of Kadena, near 21.6 North latitude and 134.2 East longitude.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Nida still has some stronger thunderstorms around its center (higher, stronger storms are depicted in purple). Meanwhile System 97W is also showing some strong thunderstorms in the southeastern side

Tropical Storm Nida's winds are around 57 mph (50 knots) today, December 2. Nida is moving west-northwest near 9 mph. At 10 a.m. ET, Nida was located about 505 nautical miles southeast of the island of Kadena, near 21.3 North and 134.8 East.

System 97W, however, looks interesting on NASA satellite imagery. In the latest AIRS imagery 97W can be seen to the east of Tropical Storm Nida. It is centered about 235 miles southeast of Guam, near 10.4 North and 147.1 East. The JTWC has upgraded the likelihood of tropical cyclone formation for this system to "fair."

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

After a westward movement, Nida is expected to now travel to the west of the islands of Iwo To and Chichi Jima over the next several days.

Typhoon Nida on November 30 at 4:15 UTC. The image showed the eye is now cloud-filled, one sign of a weakening storm, and since that image, Nida had weakened from a Category Two Typhoon to a Category One storm.